Help transcribe the correspondence of the Anglo-Irish Regency novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849)
The Anglo-Irish author Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) was the most commercially successful novelist whose work was enjoyed by Jane Austen.
Maria was an extremely popular author who was compared with contemporary writers Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. She initially earned more money, and like Jane, used her income to help support her family .
As one of the first realist writers in children’s literature, Maria was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She held views on estate management, politics and education, and corresponded with some of the leading literary and economic writers, including Sir Walter Scott.
Maria’s life in Ireland spanned the upheaval of the 1798 Rebellion to the beginning of the Great Famine. Her network included correspondents in Europe, North America and India. She was an extraordinary woman writing at the turn of the nineteenth century whose ideas on gender, race, religion, education, and science have important ramifications today.
Although Maria was one of the first authors of fiction specifically written for children, only a small number of her letters have been published.
The Maria Edgeworth Letters Project
The Maria Edgeworth Letters Project seeks to remedy this gap in scholarship by creating a digital space where Edgeworth’s full correspondence is made available, searchable, and is eventually annotated through a collaborative open-access project.
Transcriptions created through the Zooniverse platform will be checked, encoded, and eventually added to their digital archive for researchers and the public to read.
Why not be part of this unique project where you can read and transcribe Edgeworth’s letters so that your transcriptions may help illuminate this revolutionary period and the ideas of a fascinating woman writer?
You can sign up to be a Zooniverse volunteer for this project HERE
You can read out more about Marie Edgeworth’s life and writing on Wikipedia
